The Established Standard Working Hour Policy Would Be Beneficial to Hong Kong” to What Extent Do You Agree with This Opinion?

Tsang Hon Fung Timmy

16062996d

Class: ELC1012 S05 Sem003

Assessment number: 2

Word count: 918

Topic area: Employment in Hong Kong

Narrowed topic: “The established standard working hour policy would be beneficial to Hong Kong” To what extent do you agree with this opinion?

The establishing standard working hour policy is a widely discuss topic recently for shortening the working hour of Hong Kong employees. This could improve the resting time and productivity of employees and promote the work-life balance for the better working situation of Hong Kong through the standard working hour policy. While it may increase the quality of working situation, others doubt that the cost of companies may be increased by the decreasing of labor force and the income and development of employees could be limited by shortening the working hour. Both the advantages and disadvantages of the establishing standard working hour policy will be examined and the suggestions will be suggested in this paper.

The resting time and productivity of employees could be improved by standard working hour policy. Length and quality of sleeping decreased by the long working hours (Bannai, & Tamakoshi, 2014; Caruso, 2014). The sleeping hours of employees are probably not enough because of long working hours, the quality of sleeping could not be enhanced. The inadequacy in sleeping lead to unconcentrated in working, this may decrease the productivity and increase the risk during working (Caruso, 2014). In Pencavel’s (2015, p. 2073) view, it is “not only reduces his or her productivity but also increases the probability of errors”. The working hours of employees in Hong Kong might be shortened and they might have more time for resting for enhancing the producivity. In this reason, standard working hour policy should be established to reduce the working hour for improving the resting time and productivity of the employees.

Despite the quality of resting and productivity, the labor force would be shrinkage and the cost of companies would rise after establishing the standard working hour policy. The manpower may be not enough to cover the market demand because of less working hours. Martin-Roman (2014) mentions that the labor force participation may decrease when the working hours decreased by standard working hour policy in this Spanish study. The employment situation of Spain is similar to that of Hong Kong, both of their labor force participation are decreasing, the Labor Department (as cited in Wong, 2015) finds that the working hours per week of Hong Kong people decreased to about 43 in 2014. The supply of labor force could be less than the demand of that, the labor shortage problem will be more serious and this could result in the raising of the wages employees and cost of the companies (Zeng, 2015). The Labor Department (as cited in Wong, 2015) also finds that an additional wage bill raising about 45 billion Hong Kong dollars would be faced by the Hong Kong employers and this is a plethora of money which will increase the labor cost directly.

The work-life balance of the Hong Kong employees might be improved and promoted by establishing standard working hour policy. The employees will have less working hour and they may have more time to do their individual things such as gathering with friends and enjoying family activities. According to The Hong Kong Institute of Housing (HKIH, 2013), the ambition of work-life balance will be conflicted if the working period is too protractive. Most of the time are spend on working and the employees may neglect their self-care and the relationship with their family. Also, Young (2017) states that long working hours causes neglecting in the family, the employees do not have time to accompany their family or companion. Therefore, they might have more time to heed their family which could respond to their family and balance the time-consuming between the family and job which may reduce their family conflicts.

However, the standard working hour policy may limit the income and development of the employees in Hong Kong. The inflation and daily cost of Hong Kong people is increasing rapidly in recently years. Environmental Contractors Management Association (ECMA, 2014) claims that the income would be dwindled by less working hour, the shorter hours’ income may cause lacking money to support the daily lives. Sánchez (2016) investigates that the rate of earning money and the chance of promoting could be increasing by the long working hours. If the employees work more, the experiences and involvements may be increased for the promotion and more money might be earned in the future. Therefore, standard working hour policy limits the working time of employees which may shrink the chance of promotion and income of employees.

Therefore, these are both arguments for and against in establishing standard working hour policy in Hong Kong. The resting time, productivity and work-life balance could be improved by standard working hour policy. However, the labor force may decrease and the cost of companies may be increased, in addition, the development and income may be limited when the working hours become shorter.

After the consideration of both arguments for and against, I believe that the establishing standard working hour policy may shorten the working hour and prevent the overtime working to promote the better lifestyle to Hong Kong people. Although the cost of the companies may be increased and the income of the employees, the healthy lives are more important than the money. If the employees are kept in rough working life chronically, the health problem may be produced and this will also decelerate the Hong Kong development. The government can provide some financial assistance for the small and medium-sized companies and this might reduce the additional cost of companies after establishing standard working hour policy, this could enhance the long-term development in Hong Kong.